And while Morris said that he could not remember what time the HoCo stopped selling tickets, he said that “We didn’t turn anyone away until the police came.”

Naddaff said that neither she nor her husband had set limits on the number of students allowed into House parties in the past.

“We were aware that crowd control might be a concern for this particular party and opened up the dining hall for use,” said Naddaff, who also commented on the strength of the party’s advertising campaign. “But ordinarily you don’t expect that you need to worry about capacities for rooms.”

According to Corker, the overcrowding primarily occurred in the “foam” room—the TV lounge—which only has a capacity of 200.

“Our problem wasn’t too many people, it was that there were too many people in the wrong places,” Corker said.

To accommodate the throngs of party-goers, HoCo members said that they had originally planned to spread the crowds into the many different rooms, as well as the dining hall.

“That didn’t work out because the party got too crowded too quickly,” Corker said. “The foam was a lot more popular than we’d thought it would be . . . and when the police arrived, it just looked like organized chaos.”

The overcrowding may have also resulted from the influx of prospective students on campus this weekend because of Pre-Frosh Weekend.

Morris said that while the HoCo did not choose the weekend because of the pre-frosh, they were happy to show the high schoolers a good time.

“We wanted to show the pre-frosh that there is a good social life at Harvard, and there wasn’t much else going on that night.”

Morris said that the whole House was behind the organizing effort—with the masters helping to get a grant from the Undergraduate Council and nearly two dozen tutors taking tickets and controlling crowds.

“Our masters were always very supportive throughout all the planning and party,” Corker.

Preparations, which according to Corker cost HoCo $4,000, continued until hours before the event, including a last minute trip to Home Depot to buy 1,000 square yards of non-slip floor covering.

HoCo members said they devoted 12 hours to setting up for the party, and four hours cleaning up after the crowd dispersed. They also said that they hired a cleaning service to finish up the job yesterday morning.

“Mather is spotless—it was designed to be a club,” Corker said.